Shogo Kondo, President & CEO of Yamato Sewing Machine Mfg. Co., Ltd., expects the apparel industry is likely to continue experiencing drastic changes in 2018.
Under such circumstances, the President will strive to strengthen the company’s R&D and solution-providing marketing activities, and continue to improve their lean manufacturing system, with the introduction of the Toyota Production System, and strict quality management system, certified with ISO 9001:2015.
According to Kondo, demands for “automation” continue. A number of challenges including soaring production-related costs, insufficient skilled hands, growing demands for quality and function of garments by buyers and consumers and recent political circumstances seem to be in the background of such demands.
Yamato is endeavoring to overcome such challenges by providing various practical solutions.
Yamato sewing machines feature optimal stitch performance, high durability and various measures to minimize downtime, in combination with labor-saving and deskilling devices and attachments, which have been developed with experience accumulated through the ages and advanced R&D resources.
Customers select Yamato’s value-added products, which have a certain cost difference, as compared with existing equipment. Kondo is very much honored of this, and also extends his appreciation to agents and distributers for their strong support in marketing and servicing Yamato products under severe competition.
Yamato also understands that rapid developments in textile technology and frequent changes in fashion and consumers’ taste keep generating new “challenges” in apparel manufacturing. Accordingly, President Kondo strongly believes that to keep providing practical solutions is their unchanged mission for the industry.